Catholics and the 2016 Election — We’ve Hit Rock Bottom

I never thought that since I became a Catholic thirty-two years ago that I would watch our Church stand by in complicit silence while an aggressive pro-abort, Hillary Clinton, runs for the presidency.

Yes, there have been exceptions, and some of them can be found in the articles listed below.

We reached the a new low one week ago when the Bishop of San Diego, Bishop Robert McElroy, published “A Greatness of a Nation.” In this ironically title article, because it subverts the greatness of our nation, Bishop McElroy uses “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” to explain to Catholic voters why they can ignore Clinton’s position on abortion. He doesn’t mention Clinton by name, of course, but the application of his argument is clear. Based on “Faithful Citizenship,” the Bishop writes that “Those who focus primarily on intrinsic evil” are “simplistic” and “misleading.” (Throughout his column, Bishop McElroy exploits the flaws in “Faithful Citizenships,” which I explained in my August 18th article listed below.)

Bishop McElroy writes,

“‘Faithful Citizenship’ recognizes that voting for a candidate whose policies may advance a particular intrinsic evil is not in itself an intrinsically evil act. Voting for candidates is a complex moral action in which the voter must confront an entire array of competing candidates’ positions in a single act of voting. It is crucial that in voting for a candidate who supports the advancement of an intrinsic evil, Catholic voters not have the intention of supporting that specific evil, since such an intention would involve them directly in the evil itself. But voters will often find themselves in situations where one candidate supports an intrinsically evil position, yet the alternative realistic candidates all support even graver evils in the totality of their positions.” (emphasis added)

In other words, Catholic voters can vote for Hillary Clinton if they themselves do not intend to support her insistence on abortion-on-demand, an intrinsic evil. My simple question to the Bishop is this: Since the election of Hillary Clinton as president of the United States would clearly and unquestionably lead to the greater availability of abortions, through federal funding and the elimination of the Hyde Amendment, how can this consequence be morally detached from the act of voting for her? Whether a Catholic agrees with Clinton’s view on abortion, a vote for her will in fact lead to the death of more innocent children.

Bishops should not encourage Catholics to pretend otherwise. Throughout the nation, Catholic dioceses will not allow any other voting guides than “Faithful Citizenship” to be made available in parishes. They should also know that by making these arguments they are literally sending shock waves through the faithful. There will be consequences.

You will certainly not find this kind of spin on “Faithful Citizenship” in “Catholics in the Public Square” written by Bishop Thomas J. Olmstead of Phoenix, which I strongly recommend as a guide to voting with the “mind of the Church.” Bishop Olmstead writes,

“We have a serious obligation to protect human life, and especially the lives of the most innocent and vulnerable among us. Whoever fails to do this, when otherwise able to do so, commits serious sins of omission. They jeopardize their own spiritual wellbeing and they are a source of scandal for others. Should they be Catholics, they should not receive Holy Communion.”

Unfortunately, it’s not the voices of Bishop Thomas J. Olmstead, Bishop Joseph E. Strickland of Tyler, TX (Sept 14 below), or Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, M.Sp.S. of San Antonio (Sept 13 below) who are being heard by our nation’s Catholics. Rather a virtual silence has reigned, with the exception of a flurry of statements regarding the Catholics for Choice print ad in major newspapers around the country. Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami issued a strong condemnation of the organization. But it should have not taken such a blatant attack on the Church to spur the bishops to action, and, in fact, they have once again fallen silent.

We can only pray that between now and November 8th our bishops and priests will exert leadership that does not confuse Catholics about their voting decision and the intrinsic evil of abortion.

Other articles on the election by Deal Hudson published at www.thechristianreview.com

About The Author

Deal W. Hudson, Ph.D., publisher & editor of The Christian Review, is president of the Morley Institute for Church and Culture and formerly publisher & editor of Crisis Magazine; Dr. Hudson's latest book is "Onward Christian Soldiers: The Growing Political Power of Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States (Simon and Schuster, 2010).

3 Comments

George Kadlec
on September 26, 2016 at 10:33 pm

Archbishop Fulton Sheen made the perfect distinction between someone who is bad, and someone who is evil. A bad person does bad things — steals, lies, cheats. An evil person seeks to destroy goodness, virtue, honor, decency, morality and truth.
Like goodness, there is a hierarchy to evil as well. Not all evil is equally malicious, just as all good is not equally sublime.

Who is going to save our Church? Not our Bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to the people. You have the minds, the eyes, the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops like bishops and your religious act like religious”

By the above definition Hillary Clinton is evil. Donald Trump cannot even come close to her. A so-called Catholic who votes for her objectively commits mortal sin. Tim Kaine also can be defined as evil.

The state of the Catholic Church today brings to mind the following quote from Saint Athanasius “The floor of hell is paved with the skulls of Bishops.” Saint Athanasius was the first Doctor of the Church and is known as the Father of Orthodoxy.

The answer is simple, the bishops supporting and encouraging this are evil. Trump is a good man, the best candidate we’ve had in 100 years or more, probably since George Washington. This should surprise no one because this is the same rhetoric that got Obama elected, the most evil president to date. Shame on the Catholic Church. The clergy will have much to answer for, they forget this is not their Church but the Church of Jesus Christ and they betray Him.